Ear Infection

On our trip from home to my in laws (where we will stay during our GF doctor appointments) Thursday morning, our youngest cried most of the first part of the trip. We finally stopped an hour into our trip and dosed her with Motrin, as she had been grabbing her ear and screaming "OWIEEEE". This was the first indication I'd seen she may be fighting an ear infection and of course it happened right as we were leaving town for two days and right before the weekend as well.... Murphy's Law. When we got back to my in laws from our GF appointments on Thursday afternoon, she woke up from her nap and was obviously in extreme pain again. So I called the local hospital and found out they offered Urgent Care, so I took her in to be checked.

We waited quit awhile to have the doctor look at her for about 1.5 minutes (I didn't expect much more from Urgent Care), and yes, indeed, she is fighting an ear infection. The doc said he'd write a prescription for antibiotics and he told me to pick up an over the counter cold medicine for her and left the room. After he left, I started thinking, do they even make over the counter cold medicines for toddlers anymore? I didn't think so, but decided I'd ask the nurse when she brought in the prescription. I waited and waited and waited (how long does it take to write a prescription?). I'm guessing it was 30 minutes or more and finally the nurse said they were waiting on a dose of Tylenol with Codeine in it from the hospital pharmacy for my daughter (15 months old) that the doctor had already ordered (without asking me, might I add). I looked at the nurse like she was crazy, and opened my mouth to say "Don't you think that is a bit overkill?", but then I stopped myself. I brought my baby to Urgent Care to have the doctor take care of her. He obviously saw a reason why my baby needed such a strong pain killer (probably the fact she was screaming for most of the hour and a half we were there), so I decided to let the doctor take care of her as he should know what medications are beneficial and safe. I did ask the nurse about the cold medicine and she told me to ask the pharmacy. So my daughter took her Tylenol with Codeine and we got her prescription for an antibiotic and we headed for the pharmacy.

I asked the person working the pharmacy about cold medicine for a 15 month old, and he looked at me like I obviously was a clueless first time mom (I only had my youngest with me). No, they don't manufacture cold medicine for that age group, as it is not safe for them to take. Exactly as I thought. I told him the doc told me to get some for her and he said "Oh, did you have doctor Q...?" And of course I said yes. He proceeded to tell me that that doctor didn't know and was kind of clueless.

Why didn't I trust my motherly instinct and tell them to keep their Tylenol with Codeine? That my baby would be just fine on over the counter Tylenol and Motrin? In reality she was just fine having taken it and was pain free for quit some time afterwards, but I felt like a horrible Mom for letting them give my child a medicine I wasn't comfortable with and not going with my instincts. Thankfully, there was no harm done, lesson learned, and life goes on.